Weekly Discussion 80: More Hard Mode or New Zones & Missions?

[OmegaOne]

While I'm not opposed to greater challenges (i.e. "Hard Mode"), I think that should come after Homecoming has worked on the "balance" issues between ATs and sets, so there is a stable enough foundation to build from. Also maybe not until after Homecomings decides if it will do anything with the unimplemented incarnate slots.

 

For the time being I'd much rather see more content for the rest of the game. A couple of ideas come to mind:

 

Give some of the older hazard zones like Perez, Boomtown, Crey's Folly, Eden, Sewers/Abandoned Sewers etc. a reason for people to go there - maybe story arc chains that explore the history or groups in the zone (like we see with the Hollows, revamped Faultline, Striga, Croatoa, etc). This doesn't necessarily mean a Faultline-style remaster, but just some content.

 

Kalisti Wharf could use some content obviously (though the original plans for that place was probably for higher level content if I recall correctly - so that could probably wait till the storyline is ready to advance).

 

A story arc(s) detailing the interaction between a few mid-level enemy groups like the Warriors and the Family - I think they are criminally underrepresented (pun intended) considering they are the groups controlling the magic item black market and supradine trafficking in the city respectively. They both also have close ties to other villain groups (Hellions and Outcasts, Skulls and Trolls) to achieve their aims, as well as powerful rivals (they often run afoul of the Circle and the Tsoo, as well as the PPD, Longbow, Legacy Chain, etc.). Thinking along the lines of the Shauna Stockwell and Eagle Eye arcs and how they focused on the Skulls. The lore of the City is often hidden away, letting players experience more of it could add more depth to the game.

 

Edited December 7, 2020 by OmegaOne
clarity

[Doomguide2005]

I'd probably prioritize more content, across all levels over any hard mode.  That would have the greatest benefit to the community as a whole

 

I say that as someone who thinks much of the content you could all but complete blindfolded and would love to see harder content, who has run with an SG on Live where one death and that's all she wrote.

 

I say that because as Nemu pointed out more mobs and even higher (+5) mobs isn't really harder especially for 50+ builds with level shifts.  We can already pull multiple spawns together and obliterate them particularly with teams often at any level.  Harder for me is moving into a high level mission and discovering the 3 level open atrium-like room has Nemesis snipers all over the 3rd floor when you move in at the 1st floor and they start engaging as you close in with mobs on the first floor.  It's the difference between AE arc 801.2 and its alternates and dealing with a Council filled radio mission.  It's 'scattered' buffing and debuffing Resistance mobs goldside vs other.   Harder would be better AI, mobs that use more buffs and debuffs.  RO once created an AE mission seeded with many of its GM player builds as foes ... ouch!   I'd love to see missions where the word pull etc. become part of the teams vocabulary but its fairly clear resources towards more content would make more folks happy.  If some of that was harder great.

Edited December 7, 2020 by Doomguide2005
Typos

[Troo]

Hardcore Mode - Should be limited to an optional, don't get defeated model. Not anything more than that.

• Could be as simple as a badge or a temp power.

 

Challenge Mode options - Waves of endless enemy challenges.

• Yes, this could totally be abused as endless street sweeping.

 

Re-purposing / Reusing existing content

1. I like the idea of reusing existing content. This is challenging with enemy groups which don't scale all the way to 50.
2. Maybe refreshing some of the stories, linking them together better, or highlighting a story arc similar to TFs now.

 

[Bill Z Bubba]

Fix existing.

No new til step 1 is done.

Figure out how to make an emp/ass rifle def solo as well as an sd/nrg tank.

[CFIndustries]

More content is my vote, specifically pre-50.

 

More DA mission content would be nice for incarnates. I mean even the DA repeatables could use a couple dozen more variations. There are what now, 6 distinct repeatable "radio-like" missions in DA right now?  Throw those of us who don't pound-out iTrials (or enjoy them) a bone, eh?

 

And make it interesting. Redside or Goldside interesting, nunanced, clever, etc.

[Chris24601]

If the "vs." part is a matter of dev focus, I'd definitely agree new content is the way to go.

 

The first and easiest method would be, as someone previously suggested; adding more tip missions. The reason is simple; they're individual elements of repeatable content that don't need to be connected to anything other than the present tip system; i.e. no new contacts, no changes to any zones, only a few paragraphs of text each. That means they can be implemented piecemeal without necessarily needing a whole issue/page to add them.

 

As suggested, they don't even need to offer a moral choice (one could argue that accepting or dismissing the tip would be the moral choice), just be new content.

 

Related to this, I also agree with the idea of decoupling radio mission locations from level and, perhaps with that, expanding the level ranges for certain groups... or at least having logical transitions (ex. running the Midnighter missions at lower levels gets you Lost and specific Rikti bosses while at higher levels they're all Rikti).

 

The second thing I'd like to see in this regard is, especially blue-side, is Zone Revamps and Consolidation. When the snap hit, I ended up trying several alternatives, but the one I really want to mention here is "Vanilla SWTOR." A LOT of the older zones in City of Heroes lack much character and are, by and large, empty. Mission doors are randomly assigned and sometimes don't even have specific zones they have to be in. By contrast; every last corner of each world in the initial 1-50 SWTOR had a purpose related to one of the missions in the game. If there was a mission that required you to hunt 10 of X, by golly there was a specific region of the map where those things spawned in regularly. If the mission called for you to go to a specific generator and repair it, there was a specific generator in a specific part of the map you had to go to. In CoH that sort of design is really only present in the revised Atlas/Mercy intro arcs and, to a lesser extent, parts of Praetoria.

 

What I'd like to see is mission content created or modified to be like that. Lock the missions of the old story arcs to specific doors in the same zone as the contact unless it absolutely needs to be in another zone. Add specific locations for the mobs needed for mission completions to spawn. For example, "Defeat X Carnies" in CoH is a pain in the butt because they only spawn on Peregrine Island at night... and the random number generator is just as likely to drop Malta or Rikti or Nemesis onto a given spawn point. Having a specific section of the map where it ALWAYS spawns Carnies (or Nemesis or Malta or Rikti) would make those missions a LOT smoother.

 

Related to this is the idea of Consolidation. I've suggested this before, but I think the game could benefit from blowing Skyway off the map the same way Galaxy City was (link it to the Admiral Sutter TF) and all of the zone events and contacts there moved to Steel Canyon (and Steel getting a face-lift by replacing many of the buildings with the newer ones from Praetoria... of which there are hundreds to choose from) to make it a more modern and active zone (adding a great monster and Troll raves/Supa-Trolls in addition to the existing fire event). Because seriously, other than ground access to Faultline and Bloody Bay, the Synapse TF and roads to nowhere WHAT is there that actually makes Skyway worth visiting that couldn't be done just as well by adding a Tram in Faultline and dropping Synapse and the Bloody Bay chopper in Steel Canyon (perhaps moving Positron and the bulk of the Posi 1 mission doors to Faultline, where the bulk of the Posi 2 TF also occurs)?

 

Repeat this one zone pair at a time and decide for each just what the purpose of each Zone is other than just filling up space and creating the illusion of choice in advancement (i.e. you can get the contact from Steel who gives you a set of missions or the contact from Skyway who gives you the exact same set of missions... or at least did back in the old days). For example... What is the purpose of Independence Port that can't be accomplished by the docks of Talos Island? Now maybe both DO serve a purpose, but maybe they don't.

 

For me, Talos is a convenient mid-level hub because you've got a trainer, base portal and merit vendor all right next to a Tram, but it has a ton of dead space you only fly past on your way to mission doors. The only reason to hit IP outside of a specific mission is the level 30 Icon mission, the Yin TF, the starting phases of a Terra Volta respec trial and Lusca. The giant Golden Gate-ish bridge is also visually appealing, but there's a whole lot of just dead space there that feels like it needs MORE; like "you could chop the far north and everything south of the Terra Volta entrance off and make villain zones out of them and 90% of Blue players would never notice they were missing" empty.

 

That would be my focus way more than adding new zones; Fill in the existing ones.

 

You could even make a contest out of it by having "Write an Independence Port focused AE story arc and the top X (as judged by the devs) will become new story arcs for the zone."

[Saikochoro]

I wouldn’t say no to new content, however, the difficulty of the said content should be optional so as not to exclude certain types of players. 
 

I would also like more difficulty options. The thing I want most is a boss only notoriety option.

Edited December 7, 2020 by Saikochoro

[Sakura Tenshi]

On 12/6/2020 at 12:54 PM, GM ColdSpark said:

This week it's a discussion on the pros and cons of developing more Hard Mode options for existing content vs. developing new zones and missions

Things to think about:

• What you think would bring the most to the community at large and why?
• What is reasonable to expect given limited resources?
• Is there an order in which you'd do things?

Gonna be honest: I don't think there's actually a wrong answer here. Either or will work, but they will draw in different crowds. Personally, I would prefer new missions and zones*, I grow wary of Paragon, the Isles, and even Praetoria and would love it if we could go to some place out there and more exotic, some place far from song fences, war walls, and perpetually gloomy skies, even if only in individual mission instances. However I am keenly aware this is the most difficult path, but I think in general it might attract the largest amount of people. Some simple things like maps set in deserts, snowy regions, or tropical islands could be a good start.

 

Difficulty is a bit of a tricky thing, both because of how diverse builds and teams can be (difficult for one is not so for all) and because of the limitations of the systems we work with. 'easiest' way I could see is to try to add Ouroboros style 'limiters' to other content. Fighting while debuffed, enemies are buffed, etc. Some more intricate ones could include finding a way for enemies to be buffed with one or more level shifts. The most difficult (and in my opinion rewarding) way to boosty difficulty though is to look over various enemy groups and consider new mobs, new powers, etc.

[Yomo Kimyata]

Ooh, this is also my chance to pitch for a setting between AV and EB.  

[wjrasmussen]

On 12/6/2020 at 12:54 PM, GM ColdSpark said:

Happy Sunday everyone! Last week you discussed Mercenaries and what you'd like to see happen to them - Writeup is here.

 

This week it's a discussion on the pros and cons of developing more Hard Mode options for existing content vs. developing new zones and missions

 

Weekly discussion 80 Week 5th Dec till 12th Dec 2020

YOU VOTED: Let's talk about - Hard Mode vs New Content

 

Things to think about:

• What you think would bring the most to the community at large and why?
• What is reasonable to expect given limited resources?
• Is there an order in which you'd do things?

 

Standard reminder - keep it respectful folks.  😇

 

My idea is for a new content which is a combination of radio missions/safeguard/mayhem missions and task forces.  They could be hardcore which means it is new content and hardcore taking care of the vs part of the op.  Yes, the setting is the Ziggurat.

 

Called  Ziggurat Commissions

We start off as task force style (think radio) and after a number of these task force like commissions, a special commission (call it a Ziggurat Operation)  opens up. They are like a safeguard mission but in a task force style.  Very tough may need a large group.   After you complete it, you go back to running commissions.  There is a number of operations which advance to further stages of operations in a cycle.  You might have 3 to 5 levels of operation with 5 operations per level.  You don't advance to the next level until you finish off one level.

When the top most Operation is completed, a 90 minute event opens up for all to join like the rikti war zone only in the theme of the zig.

 

 

[Normal Thomas]

I don't think "higher difficulty settings" is something that should be pursued when +4/x8 is essentially the limit. The purple patch, aggro caps and map size prevent you from making mobs either bigger or harder (how are you going to fit a mob of Council fit for 12 in the already cramped office maps?). So like I said in the Incarnates weekly discussion thread the +4/x8 difficulty needs to be more meaningful instead of just adding more minions into the mix.

 

I think the devs should focus on existing balance and creating challenging interesting content for all levels. Making new missions or adding to existing zones is well within the capability of the dev team but anything more might take too long.

[gameboy1234]

Found that other "hard mode" thread I was thinking of:

 

 

The important thing about that thread is the poll.  There's a large bump in the center that people answered "the game is basically fine."  However there's also a bump on one end where some people are saying "the game is too easy."  What's important is both bumps are large; in other words the sample is bimodal.  There are two groups of people out there, and that includes a real and statistically significant group who say the game is too easy.  (OTOH that group is about 20% or so of those responding, so we shouldn't go nuts for making content just for them.)

 

There's also some really good discussion about what hard mode might be and what it shouldn't be.  Some folks are against WoW style raids where every member must do a perfectly synchronized chicken dance or the raid fails.  I don't play WoW but that sounds like something to avoid.  Then there's some discussion of hard enemies and what makes them hard and how players counter that, and I think that's a better direction.

 

Anyway, those are my two main points here: there's a real population that wants harder content, and that "hard" doesn't mean chicken dances or (to me) +6 level content, it means challenging play that requires some thought and player interaction.

 

Edited December 8, 2020 by gameboy1234

[Coyotedancer]

Again, though... that poll is a sample of the opinions of forum regulars.

That gives it a certain bias right off the bat, so it's not safe to assume that it really gives an accurate picture of what the game's population in general thinks.

[Galaxy Brain]

Ok, I've made a few threads on this:

 

Consolidated Difficulty Thread:

https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/14177-consolidated-coh-difficulty-thread-includes-poll/

 

Difficulty in CoH:

https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/17103-difficulty-in-coh-community-discussion/

 

Both of these threads try to consolidate the opinions and options that have been brought up among the players. The two standout opinions have been that most would play difficult content if it were an optional mode, and most would prefer difficulty come from new (advanced) enemy types. Most also felt the overall difficulty leaned on the easier side but is *almost* perfect.

 

 

New Mish+:

https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/17526-new-mish/

 

Expanding on an idea from the Difficulty in CoH thread, this goes into the "new Game+" trope of recycling old mission content with new settings similar to Ouroboros settings, but with more perks and usability. 

 

 

Meta Tweaks:

https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/20349-meta-tweaks/

 

Lastly, this thread dives into some of the "meta" issues with CoH that could be blamed for the current game difficulty.

 

 

 

 

My Thoughts:

 

So, I get why this is a "VS" but ideally you could kill 2 birds with one stone. There is plenty of content in the game that is currently gathering dust for various reasons that "new" content would further push into the dusty attic. Conversely, that old content tends to be tedious with the same strategy being used mission to mission where the same mechanics are used to steamroll. Newer content has introduced new enemy types that can pose a threat, new set pieces, and new mechanics that require different strategy than the tried and true tank N spank. What may give the most bang for the least buck is to go over old content and refurbish it with the new bells and whistles we have available, as well as introduce new settings that can help out those with the itch for something harder.

 

 

Brand New vs Refurbished:

To expand on this some more, I think dev time may be best used on the existing content that is so often overlooked. We already have a great example of this working with the Positron Task Force being redone (albeit on live), with that facelift making it one of the most popular in the game. Doing the same with other task forces or whole story arcs would in theory be a LOT less work than coming up with 100% brand new content. I bet there are TONS of arcs alone that have not been touched compared to the daily ITF's, Peregrine Missions and the like (another example with the Portal Corps revamps!). If we are going by the cost of dev time based on the notion of the A or B choice here, I think it makes more sense to freshen up old content to make it worthwhile would be the most economic and allow us to use more of what we have in less time.

 

Brand New Content is of course awesome as it's new! We can still add new elements to old content though. For instance, imagine a CoT arc that gets refurbished and some new magical interactable elements are added for this arc only or a select few missions that change up gameplay with zany effects. That'd be cool and fresh without needing to make an entirely new arc! Changing up some assets like a mission with the Warriors now having Shield Defense lieutenants with Phalanx Fighting + Grant Cover, etc, etc. This is me talking out my butt, but I would reckon that you could probably refurbish 2 arcs in the time it takes to make a brand new one. 

 

This goes double for zones where you could say have Boomtown revamped with existing content that uses it given a fresh coat, though it may be worth totally giving those zones new missions too depending.

 

 

"Hard Mode" or "Advanced Mode" also gives you new content:

Related directly to the New Mish+ idea, going back through existing content but with various tweaks can let you use existing content indefinitely. We already actually have this in place with the challenge settings found in Oro, but until now there haven't been many reasons to actually use them. IIRC, the tech to tweak whole arcs exist with:

• 3 different time limits
• 4 different defeat limits
• 4 different power limits
• The ability to debuff players and buff enemies, as well as disable Enhancements/Inspirations

These could in theory be expanded for more specifics, such as:

• Stricter time limits / really fast time limits with the ability to add more time back to the clock with certain goals (per boss kill, per objective completed)
• Different kinds of power limits (randomly disable a few powers, go nuts!)
• Mix up the effects placed on enemies and players:
  • Players under constant DoT
  • Players have a recharge debuff
  • Enemies under constant HoT
  • Enemies spawn with special bosses / EBs
  • Etc

toss in an XP, Inf, or even Merit Multiplier per setting tweaked and you got yourself something interesting! As for more incentive to use this....

 

 

With Ouroboros... lets actually be "Menders"! :

Something many games have now is sort of a "Random Challenge of the day" type of mission mode where you are sent to complete a task with various conditions, such as the ones highlighted above. The in-game version for Homecoming could be "Mender Tasks". 

 

The timeline has been corrupted by an unknown force that drastically changed the events of the past! Heroes and Villains acting in strange ways with different powers, new items out of time, and more are threating the very timeline! It's up to you as a Mender to tackle these challenges and mend the timeline before it's too late!

 

Mender Tasks, much like the weekly task force target, would be select missions or arcs that have Randomly Generated / specifically set challenges placed upon them that rotate out every so often that can be tackled separate from normal Flashback missions and offer special rewards in exchange for the increased difficulty. These corrupt timeline tasks could have various settings:

1. Light Mend: Enemies buffed, players under a time limit 
2. Normal Mend: Randomly pick X number of challenge settings
3. Difficult Mend: Players under DoT and a strict countdown of X minutes. Healing and regen are disabled, but attacking enemies and completing objectives will restore HP and time on the clock.

Any combo of these could work, but the options for scaling Challenges I feel would be a must. Like with revamping old content, adding challenge modes via existing Oro tools could add a ton of replay value to old content especially with rotating Task targets to encourage cycling through. 

 

 

How difficulty can actually bring balance :

Tying some more things together, I'm going to spit a hot take and say a lot of the balance issues in the game are partially due to how the game is a bit easy. This is more in regards to the "big picture" balance such as whole playstyles being not up to snuff, but in general there is a lot of strategy and game knowledge that just becomes irrelevant due to the ability to just barge into encounters freely. Lets compare this to a fighting game, bare with me here haha. 

 

In fighters, you usually have this rock paper scissors:

• Attacks get beat by Block
• Block gets beat by Grabs
• Grabs get beat by Attacks

Add in movement, and you get a ton of complexity off that basic structure! In CoH, you could compare it as:

• Attacks are.... well attack powers lol
• Block = defenses, armor toggles and the like. These beat Attacks as they mitigate damage
• Grab = Control powers, which shut off toggles and restrict options. 

Enemies rarely if ever get the ability to "Block", making them only have Attack/Grab. Players get tons of "Block",  and with overwhelming attack power they can just blitz through enemies without having to account for different scenarios. This ends up with a meta where just being a High damage/high survival is the best bet, and anything that doesn't really fit that mold isn't up to snuff.

 

This hurts Control archetypes a good bit too as there is no reason to "Grab" enemies if they never block, at least compared to "Attack", same with sets that rely overly on healing. Introducing new enemy types or scenarios where just raw damage is not always the best solution would be objectively harder, but could also open up avenues for a lot more variety.

 

Take for example, suddenly we see enemies with Yellow HP bars. These enemies show up randomly and have very high damage resistance that is special to them, not related to "actual" resists (like the purple patch), but have Negative Mez Protection. If these enemies are mezzed, their armor shuts down and they instead become very easy to defeat! The presence of such an enemy would not only immediately give Control AT's more value, but it would also give a bunch of previously skippable powers value too such as the odd ST stuns in blast sets or the like. While you could of course barrage these enemies down with raw power (they won't be invulnerable), it is much better to try a different approach vs just these guys. We have slight examples of this already with things like Tsoo and CoT mobs that have Buff/Debuff auras where the best bet is to lock them down before proceeding, well until you get a ton of Acc bonuses.

 

Another odd example, perhaps there are more environmental hazards at play that cannot be defended against with conventional means. Suddenly, healing is more welcome and if we wanna get fancy, sets like Force Field could be given special defenses vs these factors. 

 

I could go on, but these are just my thoughts on how the "Meta" of CoH ends up shaping a lot of how certain ATs or Sets are used, not even from a number crunching-min/max perspective either but from just how the game works. If you really only test offense vs defense then other 'answers' don't get as much value. By adding "difficulty" via challenging the player's choices at all times you can actually buff certain playstyles tremendously as they now have roles to play and gaps to fill in content where they didn't necessarily before.

 

 

 

Putting it together:

Wrapping this up, I highly recommend checking out the threads above for more details but it seems the consensus there is that the game leans towards the easy side and that optional difficulty would be welcomed, specifically with different enemy types to combat. My suggestions here should address those using existing mechanics via Mender Tasks, as well putting new uses on existing combat abilities via new enemies with varied strengths and weaknesses that challenge player awareness and shake up the standard composition. Likewise, I feel that if we are trying to be economic we can revamp old arcs with these new enemy types / a bit of polish to get the most bang out of dev time and to get players into the old stuff again.

 

 

-Galaxy Brain

 

 

 

 

[Galaxy Brain]

44 minutes ago, Coyotedancer said:

Again, though... that poll is a sample of the opinions of forum regulars.

That gives it a certain bias right off the bat, so it's not safe to assume that it really gives an accurate picture of what the game's population in general thinks.

Double post, but I shared that poll on Reddit and Discord too IIRC so its not *just* forumites.

 

Also looking at it again, 25% said "Just Right", and then:

 

30% a smidge easy

~14% combined for conditionally easy

17% for too easy in general

 

A combined 61% erred on "easier" to different degrees.

Edited December 8, 2020 by Galaxy Brain

[Coyotedancer]

To be brutally blunt here, I'll be impressed by the accuracy of your poll numbers when you figure out how to get it in-game and can survey the majority of the players.

 

Like the forums, Reddit and Discord are self-selecting communities made up of what tend to be the more experienced and more "serious" types.  

[thunderforce]

12 hours ago, Yomo Kimyata said:

Ooh, this is also my chance to pitch for a setting between AV and EB.  

This is a good idea, but I'd like to see an option for more general AV scaling. With 2 players (who don't have super-boffo builds), an AV is a tough fight. With 8, it's a speedbump.

[Darmian]

A monster between Monster and Giant Monster? 

[Galaxy Brain]

8 hours ago, Coyotedancer said:

To be brutally blunt here, I'll be impressed by the accuracy of your poll numbers when you figure out how to get it in-game and can survey the majority of the players.

 

Like the forums, Reddit and Discord are self-selecting communities made up of what tend to be the more experienced and more "serious" types.  

Tbf, those folks are the type to care and engage in such a survey as they are more engaged with the game by going into the communities.

 

@GM ColdSpark, is there any way to get a bigger poll out there out of curiosity? 

[Carnifax]

2 hours ago, Darmian said:

A monster between Monster and Giant Monster? 

Slightly Medium Monster!

[Darmian]

20 minutes ago, Carnifax said:

Slightly Medium Monster!

Slightly off topic but I was writing an AE where I had a scene where an Arachnos Flyer lands to facilitate one of their operatives escaping, bu I abandoned it because I don't want it to be the GM version that just murders the player, spewing out troops, that's not what it is for.  And yes, you can make it a Friendly, but that is just weird!

[Linea]

I'd like to see 801 style remakes of all the major villain groups and then see 801 style radio missions that offer incarnate rewards.  The obvious downside being, if you aren't on an incarnate team, you might get slaughtered.  Other options and avenues would likely reap better return on investment for dev time.

[AsbestosBill]

What about making all outdoor spawns work like GM spawns? Minions spawn white to everyone, regardless of level, lieutenants spawn yellow, bosses orange. Make it affected by your notoriety if possible. Assuming its simple to code, a small change that makes every zone viable, and ups the challenge of hazard zones. Work toward making hazard zones coop where appropriate and add more stories to them.

[KaizenSoze]

9 minutes ago, Linea said:

I'd like to see 801 style remakes of all the major villain groups and then see 801 style radio missions that offer incarnate rewards.  The obvious downside being, if you aren't on an incarnate team, you might get slaughtered.  Other options and avenues would likely reap better return on investment for dev time.

Back in the days of Ultima Online's heyday. They had a server, I forget the name, for hardcore players.

 

Maybe it would be easier for HC to simply make a new hardcore shard.

• No exp boosters
• Mobs buffed to 801 levels
• No farming allow. Disable AE, except for GM approved missions

Then the hardcore can go there and enjoy the challenge.

 

[Heraclea]

New missions make more sense to me than 'hard modes'.  On old live and on HC, powers have been balanced and rebalanced by fiddling with their activation and animation times.  They cannot be aborted once activated.  This means that one of the mainstays of other-game choreography - kill zones you must move away from - are a poor fit to the core mechanics of this game.  Some of the later added content uses this.  It is a perennial source of annoyance and failure.